Pre-Hispanic Andean Urbanism and Its ‘Anti-Urban’ Peculiarities

The characteristics of what is usually considered as urbanism from the perspective of comparative archaeology, adopts, in the pre-Hispanic Central Andes, very different modalities in different regions and times. Consequently, it is more appropriate to speak of different urbanisms than of a single theoretical concept, valid both from a global and local perspective. Due to their characteristics, low population density, very high formal heterogeneity, and frequently large sites, the settlement patterns in pre-Hispanic Peru could be called anti-urban systems. The settlements, considered as urban, have a spatial organization and function as ceremonial centres with large areas of public architecture and very small residential areas. It is the main purpose of this article to present and discuss the seven major particularities of Andean urbanism.